Machine for moistening, closing, and applying stamps to envelops.



Patented Sept. 25, I900. W. 8. POST.

MACHINE FOR MOISTENING, CLOSING, AND APPLYING STAMPS T0 ENVELOPS.

:'App1ication filed Nov. 6, 1899.) (No Model.)

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TATES llwrrn P TENT OFFICE.

lVILLIAM SPRAGUE POST, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN M.ATWOOD' AND FREDERICK S. POST, OF SAME PLACE, AND WILLIAM E. POST, OFMELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR MOlSTENlNG, CLOSING, AND APPLYING STAMPS T0 ENVELOPS.

SLPEGiFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 658,673, datedSeptember 25, 1900.

Application filed November 6, 1899. Serial No. 735,945. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM SPRAGUE Post, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Moistening,Closing, and Applying Stamps to Envelops, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of this invention is to produce a machine for moistening andclosing envelops and for applying stamps thereto.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification, and particularly pointed out inthe claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvedmachine for moistening, closing, and applying stamps to envelops,showing the same applied to a table, said table being partly broken awayto more clearly show the invention, the legs being broken off to savespace in the drawings, and the slide 18 being shown broken off.

and sectioned at its right-hand end, the treadle 13 insaid figure beingshown depressed and the slide 10 raised from its nor-' mal position.Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1, this figure also beingpartly broken away for the sake of illustration. Fig. 3 is a verticalsection, line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal section, line4 4, Fig. 2.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings, 6 is a table, of any convenient and durableconstruction, to which the different portions of the machine areattached.

7 is a moistening-pad inserted in the sur-' face of the table 6 andprojecting through the top of said table and into a receptacle 8,containing water 9, by which the pad 7 is kept continually moistened.

The slide 10 slides in ways 11, fast to the table 6. Said slide israised by means of a cord 12, attached to a treadle 13, pivoted by meansof a hinge 14 to the floor. Said cord passes over a roller 15, whichturns upon a pin 16, fast to a bracket 17 upon the table 6.

The slide 10 descends by its own weight when the treadle 13 is released.

To moisten the gummed surface of the flap, the envelop is placed faceupward, with the under surface of the flap, upon which the mucilage isordinarily found, resting upon the upper surface of the moistened pad 7.The treadle 13 is released, and the slide 10 descending presses the flapagainst the moistened'pad 7, thus moistening the gummed surface thereof.

In the upper surface of the table 6 I provide a slide 18, said slidehaving slots 19 therein adapted to receive a metal gage 20. The objectof said metal gage is to gage the position of the envelop with relationto the flapmoistening device, hereinbefore described, and also to assistin carrying said envelop forward to the stamp-attaching device, ashereinafter described. The slide 18 moves in grooves or ways 21, formedin the top. of the table 6, and has a rack 22 fast to the under sidethereof, with which meshes a pinion 23, fast to a shaft 24, said shaftturning in bearings 25, fast to the under side of the top of the table6. The shaft 24 has a flanged pulley 26, around which is coiled a cord27, which connects said pulley to a treadle 28, pivoted by a hinge 29 tothe floor. A spiral torsional spring 30 encircles the shaft 24, one endof said spring being fast to the flanged pulley 26 and the other end toone of the bracket-bearings 25, so that when the treadle 28 is depressedthe shaft 24 and pinion 23 will be rotated and the slide 18 carried tothe right, Fig. 4. When the treadle 28 is released, the spiral spring 30will rotate the flanged pulley 26 and pinion 23 in the oppositedirection and the slide 18 will be carried to the left, Fig. 4.

The object of the slide 18 is to carry the envelop after it has beenmoistened from the flap-moistening device to the stamp-attaching device,the metal gage 2O preventing the envelop from slipping upon the slide 18when said slide is being moved to the right, Fig. 4.

The stamp-attaching device consists of two parts, one for moistening thesurface of the envelop, the other for attaching the stamp to the portionof the envelop thus moistened.

The stamp moistening and attaching device is particularly shown in Figs.1, 2, and 3, in which 31 is a bracket fast to the upper surface of thetable 6 and having two hollow cylinders 32 and 33 formed upon the end ofsaid bracket. The cylinder 32 contains water 34 and has a piston 35therein, having a piston-rod 36 projecting through the top of thecylinder 32 and having a top 37 thereon, said piston 35 being kept up inposition shown in Fig. 3 bya spiral spring 38, one end of which bearsagainst the underside of the top 37 and the other end of which bearsagainst the top of the cylinder 32. The cylinder 33 contains a piston39, said piston being formed as a hollow cylinder with the lower endperforated at 40, the upper end of said hollow cylindrical piston beingopen. The pistonrod 41, having a flange 42 fast thereto, is raised by aspiral spring 43 and depressed by pressing upon the top 44, fast to saidpistonrod 41. The flange 42 is free to slide within the hollow piston39, and upon depressing the piston-rod by means of the top 44 it will beseen that the flange 42 will first descend, ex-

pelling the air from the hollow piston 39, un- 1 til said flange strikesthe' lower perforated end of said hollow piston 39, when both flange andpiston will descend together until the lower surface of the piston 39comes in contact with the upper stamp of the series of stamps 45,contained in the stamp holder 46, fast to the table-top 6. The saidstampholder consists of a tube 46, closed at the bottom and open at thetop, with the exception of a small inwardly-projecting flange 47. A

spiral spring 48, contained within the tube 46, forces a disk 49 and thestamps 45 upward, the flange 47 preventing said stamps from being forcedout of the tube 46. Upon releasing the top 44 of the piston-rod 41 thespring 43 will carry said piston-rod and the flange 42, attachedthereto, upwardly, creating a vacuum in the hollow piston 39 and drawingthe upper stamp of the series of stamps 45 against the lower face of thehollow piston 39. Upon the upper end of the hollow piston 39 is aninwardly-projecting flange 50, against which the flange 42 impinges whensaid flange has traveled upward 1 inside the hollow piston 39 to asufficient distance, whereupon the flange 42 and hollow? piston 39 willrise together, drawing the upper stamp of the series with them by means?of suction and holding it suspended until the envelop, which has beenmoistened at the; proper place by the piston 35, as hereinbeforedescribed, is brought forward under the stamp by means of the slidingcarrier 18, whereupon the stamp is carried downwardly and pressed uponthe moistened surface of the envelop by depressing the top 44, flange42, and hollow piston 39. After the stamp said rolls being rotated bythe crank-handle 52 and gears 53, Fig. 1, and the flap rolled down uponthe body of the envelop, so as to close and seal the same. 1

The operation of the device as a whole is as follows: The treadle 13being first depressed and the slide 10 raised, as shown in Fig. 1, theenvelop is placed under the slide 10, with the gum med surface of theflap resting upon the moistening-pad 7 and the gage 2O resting againstthe left-hand side of said envelop, as viewed from the front of thetable 6, Fig. 1. The treadle 13 is then released, allowing the slide 10to descend and press the flap of the envelop against the moistening-pad7. The treadle 13 is next depressed, raising the slide 10, and thetreadle 28 depressed, carrying the slide 18 toward the right, Fig. 4,and theenvelop forward with it by means of the gage 20 until the upperright-hand corner of said envelop is brought under the piston 35. Thetop 37 is then depressed by hand, moistening the envelop in the upperright-hand corner. The top 44 is next depressed by hand and released,picking up the stamp from the stamp-holder 46, as hereinbeforedescribed, and carrying it up a slight distance above the surface of thetable 6. The treadle 28 is then depressed sufficiently to carry theenvelop forward to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, whereinthe moistened surface in the righthand upper corner of the envelop isbrought directly beneath the stamping device. The stamp is then appliedto the moistened surface of the envelop by depressing the top 44, ashereinbefore described. The stamp being thus applied to the surface ofthe envelop, as hereinbefore described, and the gummed surface of theenvelop moistened the envelop is then taken by the operator from theslide 18 and fed between the rollers 51, said rollers being rotated bymeans of the crank-handle 52 and gears 53, closing the flap and pressingboth stamp and flap to the main body of the envelop and firmly aflixingthe stamp thereto and sealing the envelop.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire by LettersPatent to secure, is-

1. In a machine of the character described, a moistening-pad andmechanism for pressing the flap of an envelop against said pad, a-devicefor moistening a portion of the surface of the body of said envelop, astampholder, and mechanism for removing a stamp from said stamp-holderand applying it to the moistened surface of the body of said envelop,and a reciprocating slide, whereby said envelop is carried from saidmoistening to said stamp-attaching device.

2. In a machine of the character described; a moistening-pad andmechanism for pressing the flap of an envelop against said pad, a devicefor moistening a portion of the surface of the body of said envelop, astampholder, and mechanism for removing a stamp from said stam p-holderand applying it to the moistened surface of the body of said onvelop, anenvelop-carrying slide, a gage attached thereto and mechanism forimparting a reciprocating motion to said envelop-carrying slide, wherebysaid envelop is carried from said moistening to said stamp-attachingdevice.

3. In a machine of the character described, a stamp-holder, areciprocating stamp-picking device located above said stamp-holder,whereby the stamps in said holder may be removed one at a time therefromand applied to the moistened surface of an envelop placed under thereciprocating device.

4t. In a machine of the character described,

nesses.

WILLIAM SPRAGUE POST.

Witnesses:

CHARLES S. Goonmc, F. M. JOHNSON.

